Guardians of Fate
by The Angel of the Lion
Summary: The Children of Fate cannot be allowed to fall, if we fail in our duty to watch over them, all is lost." The history of the world of FFVIII, and of the Guardians.
1. Odin

Guardians of Fate

**1:  Odin**

_My time here is ending.  I can feel it._

_For countless thousand lives of men I have walked upon the Earth, but that is all about to change.  _

_A new dawn is coming unto the world of the Guardians.  A power akin to our own has woken us from our slumber.  The time has come for us to fight alongside men once more, lest the world be thrown into irreversible turmoil.  It is our duty to protect them, after all, we were once as they are now. _

_Yes, I too was human once, long ago.  _

_That time is now nothing more than a distant memory to me.  My deeds as a man are incomparable to my deeds as a Guardian.  _

_And there is now but one deed left for me to fulfil before I leave this plane of existence for all eternity.  _

_I must guide them…The Children of Fate hold the destiny of all within their palms.  _

_And my final act will be to ensure that they do not fail and doom us all._

_I am Odin, and this is my story._

My story begins soon after the dawn of time, now but a legend to the people of this planet.  I was amongst the first-born of men, a primitive race who knew little of the nature of the world around us.  

Back then, we had our own myth of creation.  My mother would tell me stories of The Elders, our 'Gods.'  According to the tales, it was they that breathed life into the world, first creating the Sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky.  They then created the sky and the oceans, before bestowing life into them.  The Great Ones turned the Earth green and made all of the living creatures upon it.  

And then, they created man, a sinful race who knew nothing of peace and harmony, instead openly embracing the arms of war. 

As a punishment, they created myriads of foul creatures intent upon destroying the lives of men…monsters they are called in this time.

The Elders abandoned us with this legacy, believing us failed.  However, it was rumoured that not all abandoned this world.  Amongst my people there were those who believed that the 'Gods' walked amongst us, taking our appearance upon themselves.  Some believed that they were, after all, watching over us.  How much of this is true, even I do not know, though I am certain that some greater being did indeed visit our people.  That memory is one that will remain with me always.

I was a young man of around eighteen or nineteen at the time, just coming into my prime.  It was a turbulent time for all of my people.  Our leader had recently died in battle, leaving no heir or successor behind him, causing much infighting as to whom the throne would now be bestowed unto.  I, however, had no interest in politics.  I was a soldier, trained only in the art of war.   My brother, however, was a great scholar and a wise man.  He had many supporters amongst the people, who believed that their ruler should be trained more in the art of learning, than in the art of battle.  However, his lack of physical prowess meant that his claim was likely to fail, and I held out very little hope for him, until something happened that would change our destinies forever.

My brother burst into my room, late one night, muttering incoherently and seemingly in a state of shock.  All that I was able to make out was that he was sat outside around the fire, and a stranger had approached.  More than that, he would not reveal.  There was something different about him, that much I felt certain of, but I was unable to tell exactly what had changed about him.  

Seeing that we were not in any immediate danger, I picked up my spear and went in search of the stranger.  I did not have to search very hard.

There was a figure hunched over the fire, just as my brother had told me there would be.  I approached cautiously, and was surprised to hear him call my name.  I had been perfectly silent.  No mortal man would have been able to discern a sound.  

_"Please, sit."_  I felt that this was more of an order than a request, and I felt compelled to oblige.  I sat opposite the stranger, and was puzzled to see that he had his eyes firmly shut, and he seemed to be concentrating hard on something unseen.  Then, almost too swiftly to see, he threw something into the fire and it erupted into a fountain of blue iridescent light, towering high above the houses in the village.  What it was I am unsure, even to this day.  It was then that he began talking to me, and I immediately noticed the change in his voice.  Previously, it had been unremarkable, but suddenly, it altered beyond all recognition.  It pained me to even listen to the sound emanating from his lips.  It felt as if a thousand sharp daggers were penetrating my very brain, and yet, I couldn't bring my hands over my ears.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop listening.

_"It is as I thought,"_ he rasped_.  "Your true part in this story is not yet beginning, and yet yours will continue long after your brother, Hyne, has ceased to walk to upon this Earth."_  It was then that he opened his eyes for the very first time.  They were pitch black.  It was no human sitting opposite me at the fire.  _"This will not be our last meeting."_  The searing pain stopped, and everything turned black.

I never did discuss that meeting with any living soul, not even my brother.  His meeting with the stranger, could not be hidden for very long, however.  It soon became apparent that he had changed beyond all recognition.  

It started with small incidents.  He would say things like "I wish it would rain," and sure enough, at that moment, the heavens opened and a storm began.  It was not long, however, before all of our people knew of his special gifts of healing and weather control, and they almost worshipped him for it.  It was many hundreds of years before I realised that around the fire that night, my brother became the first ever sorcerer, granted his powers by one of the remaining Elders who still had sympathy for the race of man.  That was how the legacy began.

After the death of my brother, it became clear that his children had inherited his legacy.  Whether this was by his choice or by a chance of fate, I will never know.  Although none of the children ever grew to be as powerful as Hyne himself, I felt sure that I was leaving my people in safe hands when I finally succumbed to death, partly through old age, and partly because I had no will to live after I became too old for the battlefield.  In those final moments, I truly believed that it was the end.

How very wrong I was.

The stranger that I had met all those years before had told me that we would meet again.  He had not been deceiving me.

I found myself stood in a void of infinite blackness, facing the being, his terrible black eyes, boring deep into my skull.

_"Your path begins here,"_ he told me, in that piercing voice.  _"It will begin now."_  For some reason, his voice didn't have the same effect upon me in this place.  I know longer had a terrible urge to block out all sound.  _"I will however, give you a choice.  You are now in a place between life and death.  The fire told me that you would come to this place, that there would be something pulling you back to the world of the living.  You gave up your life because you could no longer fight, well now, I am offering you that chance.  You too could have enormous power, the power to shape the world to come if you so wish."_

"Why would you give me this power?"  In my suspicion, it was all I could think of to ask.  

_"There will be times in the future when men will require guidance in their wars.  They will need something to fight alongside them.  I believe I have chosen well for my first.  Well, do you accept?"  _His voice softened, becoming more and more persuasive.  I felt as if I couldn't refuse.  

"I accept."  He had offered me the chance to fulfil a dream.  This was an offer I could not turn down.  

"_Good.  I am free to leave this world."  _He placed both of his hands on each side of my head.  There was a short pause before I felt a searing pain throughout my body, the intensity of it forcing me to cry out in agony.  It could not have lasted for more than a few seconds, but back then, it had felt like an eternity.  I was foolish to even think that I could comprehend the meaning of eternity when I had not even lived for sixty years.

When it was over, I felt a change come over me. It was within every pore, every muscle and every fibre.  I was _powerful_.  I had no time to reflect on this however, as the being began to speak hurriedly.  

"You have the power now to transcend the boundary between this world and the world of the living.  The world of the dead however, is for the dead only.  One day, you may pass within its boundaries, but that day is a very long time away.  You are also able to give power to others like you.  You will be able to sense the beings whose souls are not yet ready to proceed to the world of the dead.  You must judge wisely as to who is worthy of this gift."  I nodded in understanding.  "We may yet meet again.  Goodbye…Odin."

It took me many hundreds of years to adjust to my powers.  They were foreign to me, and as such I was not comfortable with using them unless I could be sure that no harm could possibly come to anybody.  As such, I never experimented with my powers in the world of the living, until I felt confident enough to do so.  Eventually, I began to help humans more and more.  In the beginning, I would only offer a small amount of help, and felt no need to junction myself to anybody.  However, on my journeys through the land of the living, I met a soldier who at once reminded myself of the man I used to be, so devoted to the battlefield.  From then on, I was his Guardian exclusively, and my essence blended with his mind so that I would be able to hear his call when he was in need.  His name was Gilgamesh.

I found that the blending had certain advantages to Guardians.  If we were defeated in battle, we did not die, as a part of us remained within the brain of the human who junctioned us.  We spent many years battling together, and we defeated many foes.  It soon became apparent, however, that something was wrong.  His memories were fading quickly and drastically.  Soon he even forgot his name, his purpose, everything.  It wasn't long before I realised that I had caused this.  My being in his mind had disrupted his memories to such an extent that his life was now ruined.  

I retreated to my own world, the one that I considered home, one where no living soul could reside.  Here, I became lost in my own feelings of guilt, unable to believe that I could cause so much disruption unintentionally.  It was many years until I could bear to visit the world of the living again, and even to this day, I will not junction myself to a human being.  I do not intend to repeat my first mistake as a Guardian.

I made my second mistake as a Guardian upon the death of Gilgamesh.  I discovered, indeed, I sensed him wandering in that place, his desire to discover his past preventing him from passing to the world of the dead.  

"Judge wisely."  That was what I had been instructed, but my conscience was too clouded by guilt for me to make a correct decision.  I chose to let him become a Guardian, even though he had a rash character, and was prone to violent outbursts.  I thought that giving him a chance at another life would absolve my sins.

Instead, I found that it had multiplied them.

Gilgamesh was never afraid of his power, he would always use it freely, even when he could not be sure that he was in complete control.  He also experimented with some of his powers on the living.  It was a mistake to ever grant him the powers of a Guardian in the first place, but an even worse mistake was the fact that I did not watch him as closely as I should have done.  The whole village of people lying slaughtered in their homes attested for that.  

When he lost control, he was dangerous.  After the incident, I watched him day and night, offering all the advice that I could, only to have him shun every piece of it.  When, in the process of killing a grendel, he also murdered two young children who had been attempting to fight the creature, I knew that I had to do something to contain him.  

Gilgamesh, however, did not wish to be contained.  The battle between between us two Guardians was epic and bloody, and lasted for many days.  I however, had far more power than he did, and in the end my victory was assured.  

Still, I could not bring myself to send him into the world of the dead and end his life for good.  I was, in a way, responsible for his downfall, and felt that I could not take his life, therefore, I used some of my own power to seal him away in his own part of the world of the Guardian.  

When I die and my powers fail, he will be free again.  I gave life to other Guardians to ensure Gilgamesh's defeat when that time comes.  

I fear that time is almost upon us.

It has not been long (in my concept of time) since I my final visit with the Elder who first bestowed my power upon me, and evidently he had been watching my every move.  Life in the millennia prior to this was relatively peaceful, the only conflict being a way in Centra, which I myself did not participate in, although I know other Guardians had important roles to play in that war.  However, he brought me tidings of a new age of the world, one in which the power of the Guardians will be needed to ensure the survival of man.  

"Watch over the Children of Fate," he instructed me.  "When their parts in this story begin, you will be able to sense who they are.  They are the ones that will ultimately decide the fate of men.  Destiny has not been kind to them, and they will require all of the help that you are able to offer.  Although you are not able to junction yourself to a human, those with less power than you will not cause as much damage.  Allow them to aid the Children of Fate.  They must not fail."  He paused for a few seconds.  "I have been watching over you until now.  The time comes when I must be prepared to step backwards, and let you face your final task without my guidance.  Farewell."

And so my story comes unto its end. 

I can feel their presence now, within the world.  My wait will not be long.

The day of my final task draws inexorably closer, as does the day of my death.

Hopefully this will be a whole series with the stories of the GFs.  Most will be the stories of the GFs up until the events of FFVIII.  This chapter is one exception, it finishes slightly before the start of the game.  There will also be one special case which will be set after the end of the game, but that one won't be for a while yet.


	2. Bahamut

Guardians of Fate

**2:  Bahamut**

_So you wish to challenge me?_

"It is not our will to fight."

_Begging for mercy?_

"Never."

Impudent fools.  They may have defeated the two lesser demons that I sent to test them, but I can summon far worse.  They will pay for their insolence.

_Damned imbeciles!  Why do you wish to fight?_

Silence.

Hmm…strange.  These humans have no answer.  I strain to hear what they are thinking, struggling to eavesdrop on the very thoughts inside their heads.  Eventually, I forge a link with the mind of their leader.

_It's our nature.  There is no real reason.  Maybe we were born…only to fight._

_I see…interesting._

His acute awareness is impressive, he understands the weakness of his own race, and he accepts it.  This is a revelation which normally only occurs with death, or in my case, rebirth.  Yes…there is something very different about this one.  Maybe Odin was right.  Maybe the prophecy is about to be fulfilled.  If that is the case, I will need to be sure.  I will need to give them one final test.

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"I will need to give you one final test."

And so began the final conversation I ever had with my father, the conversation that would ultimately shape the entire course of my destiny.  Of course, at that particular moment in time, I had no concept of the bearing that it would have on my future.  I was only a mortal then, I could have no concept of the future that lay ahead of me.  

No, back then, I was too impulsive, too proud, too indulgent.  I could simply not grasp why I would need to undergo a test to ensure that I was a suitable candidate for kingship.  

"A test?  But I am your son, what further test do I need?"  My raised voice brought my father's bodyguards rushing from outside the door.  He quickly motioned them away with a swift movement of his hand.

"I need to be sure.  A kingdom lives and dies by the strength of its ruler," he answered.  To this day, I still remember how he never once raised his voice, no matter how enraged my replies became.

"Strength?  Strength?" I spluttered, indignantly.  "You want me to prove my strength?  I am amongst the most capable warriors in the land, and you mean to question my strength old man?"  He sighed, and shook his head.

"Have you learnt nothing my son?  That is not the only strength needed to become a great leader, it is but one facet of the whole.  You will need, not only to fight with your sword, but with your head.  You must be able to think your way through every situation carefully and logically and above all you must remember to use all…"

"…of my diplomatic skills.  You've told me this a thousand times."

"And that still does not seem to be enough.  Great kingdoms are built in peacetime, not in a time of war.  That is something that you must always remember."

"I'm sure you will never cease to remind me."  

I wish that I could have taken those words back.  I can only think of my mortal self with utter contempt, now, at the way in which I spoke to my own father in such a disrespectful manner.  I was only young, I know, especially by my current concept of time, but that does not excuse my behaviour.  If only I had realised what a great man my father was in his life, I would have been more inclined to follow in his footsteps.  He was a great king amongst men, building his empire on the foundations of peace and trust, and I just saw him as a weak old man with no stomach for fighting.  How wrong I was.

"I will not be there to remind you.  Son…I…I'm dying."  He whispered this last sentence with a look on his face that was pleading for peace between us.  It is a look that will haunt me for the rest of my days.

I didn't know how to react, or even what I felt.  I was too confused by the fact that the man I had grown up with, and grown up to resent, was not going to be around anymore.  I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that I was sorry for everything that had happened between us, and that I would miss him.  We had never been that close before, and I physically couldn't force those words out.

What I most regret, however, is that I was still angry.  I felt that succeeding him was my birthright, a right that nobody could take from me.  I was blind to my folly.  This conversation only made me more determined to prove my father wrong.  Perhaps if I had listened to him, things would have turned out very differently.

My final test was to lead the army of my father's kingdom in battle.  Although he had always prided himself on his peacekeeping, the situation around the borders of the land was becoming dire.  Parties of raiders had been holding several towns siege, and their numbers were swelling.  Eventually, my father saw that military action was the only solution, and he reluctantly ordered the dispatch of a large force.  I was to be its commander. 

This was supposed to be a test of my cunning and strategy, as well as my leadership abilities.  My prowess on the battlefield never came under question.

My men _did_ emerge victorious, but more by luck than by judgement.  The enemies quickly broke rank under pressure from the superior numbers of my army, and their leaders were soon captured.  I knew that my father would not be impressed by this, he wanted to see that I could do more than fight, and I had not been able to prove that.  It was with a heavy heart that I returned home, only to find that my father had passed away in my absence.

It was this twist of fate that would eventually doom an entire kingdom.  

I was crowned the day after my father's funeral, and from that day on, the entire land of Centra was plunged into turmoil.  

I was not blessed with the tact and guile that was the strongpoint of my father, and soon, all diplomatic relations between the Centran nations soon ceased, and the precarious ceasefire that had taken many years to forge was destroyed within a few tumultuous years. The outbreak of war caused a struggle in each nation to develop better, and more effective weapons for use against the enemy.  It was not long before we all had the capacity to destroy each other.  Yes,I was one of the main players in the catastrophic war, which single-handedly wiped out all civilisation in Centra, a once great continent.  

It was only upon my death that I finally realised the futility of it all.  The human race, is, in essence, weak.  Only a few, exceptional individuals can manage to rise above this mediocrity.  My father was one of them.  

In life, I was most certainly not.

I was fortunate enough, however to obtain a second chance, an opportunity for redemption.  I will not make the same mistakes now that I did in life.  That is why I hide here, where people very rarely tread.  I do not trust humans with the kind of power that I could give them.  That is why these humans must be tested.  If they truly are the Children of Fate, as Odin believes, then they will pass.

I however, have less faith in the human race than Odin does. I have a better concept of their inherent weakness than most.

Still, there is a chance that they truly _are_ the Children of Fate, and if that is the case, then now is the time that I must once again fight alongside humans.  

It also means that the time for my ascension is almost upon me.  

The guardians will soon need a new leader.

_I will not fail twice._


End file.
